2013 - Zombie Cross - For your Halloween Weekend

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For years I've longed for a proper Halloween Cross race here in Colorado. Yes, we may have seen costumes here and there. Maybe an errant pumpkin roling down a run-up and perhaps even pumpkin beer. But all this will seem like child's play on Sunday, October 27th.

From Todd Hockenberry (of Frites En Mayo) last week:

The course is complete and I think people are going to like it. Some features from previous years have been carried over and I've added a few new wrinkles. The course has technical areas and power sections, fast down hills, a little climbing, sand, single track, pavement and a small bit of grass. There are spots that will be ridden by some, but many will have to run. The "Run-up from Hell" is back. I recommend pre-riding the course on any of the following days:
Wednesday 10/23 - Several of us will be meeting at the venue from 4:00 - dark.
Friday 10/25 - I'll be out there most of the day and I can show you the course.
Saturday 10/26 - We will be setting up and taping the course. You're welcome to ride and/or help out.

More good stuff:

The Tender Belly food truck will be onsite serving their delicious, high quality meats and dishes. They're providing bacon for hand-ups, bacon prizes, bacon you can buy. Bacon.

Several vendors will be showcasing their products; llliiiiiiiiike Oskar Blues.-Equal pay-out for women's pro cat.

Mechanical support will be provided by Jinji Cycles.

Trick-or-treating for the kids. Vendors, teams, registration, announcers have been told to bring candy to pass out.

There are two playgrounds at the park for the kids. [Editor's note: In my opinion there is no excuse to take your kids somewhere awful and crowded like "Boo at the Zoo" or some place equally horrid and miss THIS RACE.]

Prizes for best costumes. Heckling is strongly encouraged of anyone racing and not wearing a costume. It's the Halloween race, come on people!

Teams are encouraged to bring their team tents. I'm not charging for space because that's ridiculous. Put your tent anywhere on the course but not on the sports fields.

Bacon + Oskar Blues + Trick-or-treating + sanctioned heckling = I'm in. I will be there fully costumed. Probably to the point where it will be a detriment to my racing. I am also planning on bringing candy corn to throw at people while I heckle. Clearly I've been planning this in my head for years. Thank you, Zombie Cross for helping me realize my Halloween-Obsessed Potential.

32 Comments

I spoke with one of the promoters and course designers for this race while at Zero Gravel CX and he confirmed that the course in Parker this year will be even better, if that's possible! AND, it's zombie/costume CX being the last race before Halloween.

Make sure you put this one on your must-do list and get ready to experience (re-experience) the Runup From Hell, literally! See all you boys and girls out there.

We've most likely put the final touches on this years course and it's ready to pre ride. We feel (we worked very hard) that we created a challenging, fast and fun course. Parker Parks and Recreation will be mowing on occasion up to race day, if you see them say "hi" and "thanks". They have been amazing to work with and have embraced this event.

A course map is available at blog.fritesenmayo.com. Subtle changes to the course may occur depending on race day conditions and lap times.

Since this is technically an equestrian park you will occasionally see folks riding horses. They understand it's a multi-use park, but please be respectful of them.

Hi everyone, it seems I forgot my pit wheels after the Men's 4 race today. The wheels are Fulcrum 5 with grey vittoria tires. If anyone picked up my wheels, please contact me at steve1031(at)live.com My name and number was also on a tag on one of the wheels.

My wife walked them down the hill, and we stopped to talk to a friend waiting to start the 3 race. I set them down in the general area of the start, basically in front of the Sidi booth. We drove with a friend, stopped for food on the way home, and just got home to realize the wheels aren't with us or our friend. It was nearly 7pm, the men's open race ended at 5:20, (and we live 45 minutes away) so I didn't drive back down. I'll give you a sweet gift if you grabbed them as everything wrapped up.

To the hecklers who were putting stickers on riders backs and giving hand ups, you know things are getting a bit out of control when you actually make racers crash. Heckling is fun, interfering with racing is not.

All of the crashes came about from racers trying to take the hand-ups, or getting a dollar bill from the plethora of dollar salads. Those are 100% optional. The aforementioned crashes are not the fault of the fans/hecklers as long as the rider opts to take the hand-up. Everyone that did crash due to this was accepting of their fate. If we are shoving hand-ups into people, then yes, I'd agree that we are interfering with racing.

By the way...we'll have sweetened raspberry iced tea by request of some non-alcoholic racers that felt left out yesterday.

I frowned upon the fact that this run up would be back. After watching the video from last year and reliving the horror of not being able to make it up that damn thing....This year however proved to be different.. With a pre ride Saturday and an early morning (8am) race time on sunday(both days were successful in riding it). I was determined to get up it and no repeat of last year (riding it and toe spikes were mandatory this year).
BOOOM, Ship it....sailed up that thing for 5 out of 6 laps (first lap the guys in front of me were dismounting so I had to)......

On Saturday we debated placing a small barrier a few yards in front of it, making it narrower, or wetting it down to make it slick. We decided to leave it be and I guess now it's the "Ride up from Hell".

Nice job clearing as much as you did, I imagine it wasn't easy the last few laps.

Great course, Todd. It had plenty of interesting features, so no need to contrive. Here's bar cam from the 35+3 race, with the complete first lap, for anyone who's interested in seeing what they missed:

In my opinion - this is the best venue for CX that I've raced in Colorado. Great terrain. Infrastructure (Parking, bathrooms, etc.). It seems like a location where racing in bad weather wouldn't be construed as having an adverse affect on the course (and it seems like most of the course would hold up well anyway). It's a good potential State Championship location.

Not even close to regulation width for large portions of the course. And no, I'm not talking about just the racing line not being wide enough, but all of that section in the trees and the culverts wasn't even close to wide enough to pass.

So let's make sure that everyone understands what you are trying to say here. For about 90 seconds out of each 8 minute lap of racing you are complaining about the course not being a wide enough or within regulation? If this was going to be a hazard to anyone, the chief referee would not allow the race to go on if they thought someone might get hurt.

Did you ever race in COS when it crossed the wooden bridge that was only 6ft wide at Bear Creek Regional Park? It was in the trees all day and their race was in Nov each year and it would stay frosty/slick until about noon each year.
DId you ever race in Pikes Peak SuperCross where you came down a waterfall of stairs that was only 4 ft wide? You rode down the hogback area of the park with waterbars and steps that were a foot drop off and there were like 5 of them.
Did you ever race at the NACT races at Xilinx that had a steep bridge (20 degree angle both directions) that went over the cement water culvert that was only 4ft wide but was used in a UCI race?
Did you file a protest with the CR after your race ended?
If you thought that the course was not wide enough to pass then why did you even race if you felt it was unsafe?

So far you are the only anonymous poster on a page that everyone has complimented the promoters on putting on a great race. Are you to afraid to use your own name? Are you afraid that we will know where you finished and you will be heckled again like you were on the runup/rideup of death? Stand up and be proud of your comment. FMVC/Salvegetti/Alpha Bicycle will be more than happy to accept your criticism and do their best to make the course wide enough for everyone.

See the video posted by Brian M in this thread. A racer makes a pass in the section you say "wasn't even close to wide enough to pass". 12:13 mark. I'm not trying to be argumentative but I thought it was interesting to see after reading your comment.

Not wide enough to pass without chopping the other rider. It's one thing to have spots where it's difficult to pass because the terrain off the preferred line isn't as rideable as you'd like, but it's another thing to be completely blocked in by trees or other obstacles that make it practically impossible to veer off the worn in line.

C'mon, it's really simple. Lots of courses (most of 'em, it seems) are fun as hell to race, but don't come close to meeting the recommendations for course layout, at least not for some sections of the course. Much of the time, the course designer does the very best they can with the terrain they have to work with. We all get that.

But, in those cases where there's plenty of challenging terrain to work with, such as out at the Equestrian Center, what is wrong with trying to comply with the guidelines for course design and resisting the urge to turn sections of the course into singletrack (the trees) or a circus side-show (the culverts)?

Wait a minute...We are talking about cyclocross here, right? I understand the need to comply with regulations on course design and safety, but this course is very close to offering a "natural" track with a real sand section on the creek bank (meaning not volleyball court or man-made sand section), singletrack through trees and actual equestrian park features. This type of course is what makes cyclocross special for the racer and spectator. There are many places to pass on this course (roads, start/finish, barriers) including through the trees provided it is done courteously, respectfully and without danger to fellow racers. I am the person who passed in the trees on the video at 12:39 (roughly). I said I was going to take the inside line and did not "chop" the other rider. I, and others, have passed here in this section for years on this course.
Of note: In CX races in the PacNW some races have actually used a velodrome as part of the course or other interesting features like sudsy, bubble-bath "clouds" (very interesting). And, the only "circus side-show" I experienced was the awesome heckling crew at the top of the run-up and that was just perfect for a Halloween race. (BTW: the tone of my comment is meant to be light-hearted and not so serious)

dang, dude, don't get your panties in such a wad. Nobody said a damn thing about anything being unsafe, or even not fun. I raced, I had a blast. Just merely mentioned that it wasn't regulation width, and therefore not really suitable for a championship event without minor mods.

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